The 20 Highest-Grossing Actor And Director Duos

Scarlett Johansson and Woody Allen worked together on a trio of films as well.
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Actor-director duos can make or break a film.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt and director Rian Johnson just reunited on "Looper" after working together six years earlier on "Brick."

Though their two films may not have broken any box-office records, there are plenty of other duos who joined together year after year to put out Oscar gold (Martin Scorsese and Robert DeNiro and Woody Allen and Mia Farrow).

We know longstanding actor-director combos have put out tens of hits, but which pairings have been most successful?

We've compiled a list of go-to actor-director pairings, tracking their worldwide box office grosses to see which teams have earned the most at theaters.

Unsurprisingly, a few directors pop up on the list multiple times with different actors.

Not included in this list are those who joined forces for long-standing franchises ("Harry Potter," "Lord of the Rings," etc.) because they would offset the rest of the list. Sorry, Christopher Nolan and Batman.

The exception to this is if a franchise didn't extend beyond two films ("Kill Bill"). In addition, the duos had to work on more than two films together.

17. Woody Allen and Diane Keaton: $138.4 million

United Artists

Woody Allen loved his leading ladies. He and Keaton began working together in 1972 on "Play It Again Sam." From there, the actress starred in his films throughout the '70s, winning the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1977 for "Annie Hall."

11. Len Wiseman and Kate Beckinsale: $382.8 million

Getty Images / Kevin Winter

Couple Beckinsale and Wiseman met on the set of the first "Underworld" film while the actress was still with Michael Sheen! Though there are a total of four films in the franchise, Wiseman only directed two of them. (He was the producer on the latest "Underworld" film while Beckinsale didn't appear in the third.)

7. Paul W.S. Anderson and Milla Jovovich: $706.9 million

Getty Images / Christopher Polk

This actor-director pair are also a real life couple who have been married since 2009. The two met while working on what became the popular "Resident Evil" franchise and also worked together on last year's "The Three Musketeers."

Film Count: 4

Highest-grossing film: "Resident Evil: Afterlife" - $296.2 million

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6. Tony Scott and Denzel Washington: $786.2 million

AP Photo/Starpix, Dave Allocca

The pair's collaboration on "Crimson Tide" in 1995 which earned three Oscar nods led to their work in four more films over the course of the next decade and a half with their last film being "Unstoppable." Scott passed away in August of this year.

5. Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio: $992.2 million

Getty Images / Larry Busacca

Scorsese also lands twice on our list, this time with Leonardo DiCaprio who first collaborated on "Gangs of New York" in 2002. Every film the duo worked on together has earned more than $190 million at the box office worldwide.

2. Tim Burton and Johnny Depp: $2.3 billion

Getty Images / Koichi Kamoshida

This duo and the next actress featured on our list have worked on five Burton-directed films together, including the top-grossing remakes of "Alice and Wonderland" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." Can you guess the actress with whom Burton shares an equally successful pairing?